Eailroad-cab bbake



E. E. RICE.

Car Brake.

No. 13,139. Patented June 26. 1855.

65;: B i h! Hll N- PETERS. PHDTD-LITHDGRAPHEX'L WASNXNGTDN. D. C.

NITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ELISHA E. RICE, OF HALLOVVELL, MAINE.

RAILROAD-CAR BRAKE.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 13,139, dated June 26, 1855.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ELISHA E. RICE, of Hallowell, in the county of Kennebec and State of Maine, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Brakes for Railroad-Cars, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings of the same, which make part of my specification, and in which a Figure 1, represents a side elevation of one end of an eight wheeled car, with my improved brake applied thereto; Fig. 2, represents a vertical longitudinal section of the same; Fig. 3, represents a plan of the same; Fig. 4 represents an elevation of the shoes and the pressing beam detached from the truck; and Fig. 5 represents a like view of the same parts, but at right angles to the view shown in Fig. 4:.

My invention and improvement relates to i that class of brakes, which press upon the rails of the track on which the wheels run, to create the friction required to retard or arrest the mot-ion of the car; and the object I 1 propose to attain is, to arrest the motion of the car easily and gradually, without the jarringwhich is produced by those brakes which press on the wheels, or the shock that is produced by the brakes that rub on the rails, as heretofore constructed, when they pass over irregularities on the surface of the latter.

A further object of my invention is, to construct and arrange shoes in such manner that their flanches shall not tend to spread the rails apart, like the flanched shoes heretofore in use.

A still further object of my invention is to arrange a light weight on the face end of a lever in such manner that it will operate by a sudden jerk to start the shoe from the rail, in case it binds in its guides, when it becomes necessary to raise it, thus avoiding the objection, on account of its great strength or heaviness, to a spring or weight, which will act by a steady even pressure with the requisite force to raise the rubber off the rail, when bound in its guides.

The mechanism by which I obtain the objects and advantages above specified is rep resented in the drawings, as applied to a truck which supports one end of an eight wheel or double-truck car, in which drawings the frame (A) of the car is broken off so that but one end is seen.

The truck (B) in the general arrangement and construction of its parts, is of the usual form, except that its wheels (at) are not fitted with brakes to press upon their treads or peripheries to arrest or retard their motion in the ordinary way.

Instead of the wheel brakes, the truck is fitted with brakes that press on the rails (C). These brakes consist of shoes or rubbers (D), each attached to the lower end of a guide frame (6) which slides up and down between ribs within a hollow bracket (E) which projects downward from the under side of the truck frame to near the rail.

Upon each shoe, a spring is fixed, which,

in this instance, 1s a common india rubber car spring (d) and upon each spring, one end of a beam rests which extends across the truck so as to connect the shoes of the oppositesides. To this cross beam, the short end of a lever (G) is pivoted, whose fulcrum is in a bracket (6) ,by the side of the beam, which descends from the central cross beam (f) of the truck. The long end of this lever extends beyond the truck frame, to near the middle of the car frame. The purpose of this lever is to raise and depress the shoes; and that its long end may be heavy enough to raise the latter, it is loaded with a weight in sections which can be added and withdrawn at pleasure to adapt the weight to that of the shoes.

The pivot holes (m) at the fulcrum or connection of the lever (G) with the beam (F) are slightly elongated vertically, so that when the weighted end of the lever has been raised to depress the shoe upon the rail, and is allowed suddenly to fall again, it may drop some distance before its fulcrum comes to a bearing against the beam (F), in order that in its descent, the Weight may acquire suflicient momentum to produce a jerk that will start the shoe up in case its guide frame (6) happens to be bound be tween the guides in the bracket Moreover, in case the first drop of the weighted end of the lever should not be suflicient to start the shoe up, the lever can be raised and re-dropped a sufficient number of times to accomplish the object.

The lever may be raised and lowered in any convenient way, but in the present example, I have represented for this purpose, the ordinary capstan H, with its ratchet wheel (h) chain (g) and pawl As the long arm of the lever is so many times longer than the short arm, a comparatively small weight is suflicient to counterbalance that of the shoes. This is of great advan tage, because a very heavy weight such as would be indispensable if the arm of the lever were short, would require too much force to raise and lower it by the hand capstan, would be too heavy to carry conveniently and safely and would also be less efl'ective for the purpose for which it is used.

One shoe of each pair is fitted with fianches on both its inner and outer sides, to guide it on the rail while it is pressed thereon. The other shoe is plain on its bearing surface, that it may be free to move laterally across the rail to accommodate itself to the path of the outer shoe, which, being flanched, is notat liberty to move laterally.

This combination of a flanched and a smooth shoe, secures the advantages of a fianched guide without tending to spread the rails apart like those brakes whose shoes are both flanched, whether on the inside only or on both sides.

The brackets by descending so near to the rail as barely to leave room to raise the shoes from contact with it, support the shoes so near to the point at which they rub, that much of the tremor and jerking that would take place in case the shoes were supported at a higher point is prevented, which is of great importance, because the smoother and more even and regular are the movements and operations of the car, the more durable and free from liability to accident will it be.

The interposition of the springs (cl) between the shoes, and the bearing beam (F) so near to the surface of the rail, permits that freedom and ease of motion in the shoe which is indispensable to enable it to rise and fall in passing over inequalities without communicating a shock to the car. Further, this freedom of motion of the shoe diminishes greatly the wear and tear of the rails, and correspondingly increases its own durability.

The under side of the shoe has a sole of metal softer than the rails, which is made removable, so that it can be replaced by a new piece whenever necessary. This soft metal sole on the shoe, although not so indispensable in my improved spring shoe as in others in which the shoe cannot rise until the inertia of the whole truck is overcome, because my shoe by reason of its yielding freely does not tend to cut the rail like the others, still, by making the sole softer than the rail, the wearing of the latter is diminished, and as the soles of the shoes can be repaired and replaced easier than the rails, I gleem it an advantage to make the former so t.

What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

l. The construction of the brake with one flanched, and one plain shoe, in the manner and for the purposes specified.

2. The combination ofthe guide bracket (E) extending from the frame of the truck, nearly down to the rail, the shoe with its sliding frame, the spring to allow the shoe to yield, and the beam for pressing down, and raising up the shoe, the whole arranged as herein set forth, so that the spring and shoe are supported near the rail, and the shoe rigidly held from any lateral movement whatever, while it is free to rise and fall.

3. The weighted drop lever in combination with the shoes, the same being arranged and operating as herein set forth.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto subscribed my name.

E. E. RICE.

Witnesses:

P. H. WATSON, F. G. DE FoNTAINE. 

